Gasoline availability is improving following Hurricane Irma, but pricesreacged a three year high.
AAA said in their weekly fuel price report that while a steady stream of ships are delivering gas to Florida's ports, normalizing supply levels for the Southeast, and gas prices are moving slightly, lower, prices last week hit the highest point since 2014.
In 2014, crude oil traded between $65-$75 a barrel. In 2017, with crude oil prices around $46-$49 a barrel, the hurricanes are the culprit of the increase. - prices shot up 55 cents in Georgia since August 22.
The state average was $2.72, three cents less than a week ago but 52 cents higher than last year, AAA reported.
"Hurricanes Harvey and Irma delivered a 1-2 punch on gas prices in the southeastern U.S.," said Mark Jenkins, spokesman, AAA - The Auto Club Group. "Prices surged when Hurricane Harvey caused refinery outages along the Gulf Coast. As refineries recovered, gas prices should have begun to decline after Labor Day, but the arrival of hurricane Irma caused a surge in demand, preventing the impending plunge.
Jenkins said prices are set to drop 30 cents, though not overnight. "Pump prices decline much slower than they rise. Plus, the threat of any new storms making landfall in the United States would compromise the collapse. However, motorists should see gas prices decline through the end of the month, and possibly reach the lowest point of the year in Q4."
Fuel trend website GasBuddy.com reported the average price of gas in the state was down three cents, like AAA, however GasBuddy averaged the state price at $2.68 a gallon.
Both GasBuddy.com and AAA reported Atlanta as the city with the highest gas prices in the state between $2.77 and $2.78 a gallon and Augusta with the least expensive gas between $2.59 and $2.62, respectively.
"With refineries continuing to get back online and with demand cooling off from the summer months, we have more room to see the national average drop in the week ahead," said Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy. "In fact, this week could see some of the largest drops in gas prices in many months. It still will take time to completely heal from the issues Harvey and Irma left, particularly due to the large scale disruptions of fuel logistics and production, but improvement will continue both with lower retail prices and high refinery output."
Lastly, AAA data showed that Georgia saw the highest price increase in the United States at 50 cents, with Florida following at 46 cents and South Carolina next at 45 cents.
